Queer People of Color Flag

Identity & Context

Represented Identity

Queer people of colour

Movement

Black Lives Matter

Racial / Ethnic Context

People of colour, with the source tying the design specifically to Black communities

The source describes the flag as representing "queer people of color (QPOC) and how the black community and the queer community are often woven together, both currently and in the earliest days of the Queer Liberation Movement", and as standing for "solidarity with the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement". ^[1]

Creators

Origin

No place of origin is documented. The source describes the flag's use as "mostly been in the digital sphere". ^[1]

Dates & Chronology

Documented circulation

Reported in use by 2019; wider circulation from 2020

Creation Bounds

No date of design is documented. The one source located states that "the origin of the Queer People of Color Flag is unknown", that the flag "gained notoriety in 2020 during the height of the BLM movement", and that it was flown at San Francisco Pride in 2019. ^[1] That would put its existence at 2019 or earlier, but the source cites nothing for the 2019 flying and no photograph or contemporaneous report of it has been found, so no year is recorded here.

Nothing about the flag's making has been located. The single source dates its rise rather than its design, to 2020 and the Black Lives Matter movement, and reports one earlier flying, at San Francisco Pride in 2019. ^[1]

Lineage

Related flags

Rainbow Pride Flag

The field is the six-stripe rainbow flag, charged with a raised fist on a black disc. The raised fist is a much older protest emblem than either flag and this entry does not trace it; the source describes the charge only as "a raised fist in varying shades of brown". ^[1] No source states that the design was derived from any particular rainbow flag, so the rainbow flag is recorded as a related design rather than a documented predecessor.

Colors & Symbolism

The source reads the flag as solidarity: the rainbow field for Queer communities, the fist for the Black freedom struggle, and the two together for the people who belong to both. ^[1]

This flag has no official digital palette. Color values shown are approximate.

The raised fist

"Unity and support as well as defiance and resistance." ^[1]

The shades of the fist

Diversity. The source describes the fist as banded to represent "the various colors of the 'human rainbow'". ^[1]

Every meaning here is the one source's. No statement by a designer exists to compare it against, because no designer is known.

The same source reports that the flag "is sometimes called the Resistance Flag", and quotes the writer Matt Baume: "The modern LGBTQ+ liberation movement was touched off by queer and trans people of color, and their struggle continues to this day, with both communities seeking justice, equality, and freedom from oppression. And because many people belong to both communities, they're not two distinct causes but instead overlap." ^[1] That quotation is reproduced at second hand: the source attributes it to Them, and the original article has not been located.

The values above are sampled from the artwork held here and are measurements, not a specification. ^[2]

The source publishes its own colour table, and it does not match the image printed beside it. It gives red #F00000, orange #FE7E00, yellow #FFFF00, green #007A41, blue #4041FE and purple #A001BE; the artwork samples #EF2227, #F7971F, #F1E91C, #0C9B4B, #3956A6 and #93298E. Every stripe differs. ^[1][2] Which of the two, if either, reflects a designer's intent cannot be established while the designer is unknown.

Design

Aspect Ratio

3:5 · standard

Ratio Notes

No proportion is published. The artwork held is 900 by 553 pixels, a height to width of 0.614, which describes that copy rather than a specification. ^[2]

Orientation

horizontal

Stripe Count

6

Layout

horizontal stripes with a central charge

Stripes (Top → Bottom)

red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple

Center Symbol

A raised clenched fist on a black disc, the fist banded from pale to dark

Six horizontal stripes of roughly equal depth, between 11.6 and 16.1 per cent of the flag each, with a black disc centred over them carrying a raised clenched fist. The fist is drawn in flat horizontal bands running from pale at the knuckles to dark at the wrist, outlined in black, and the disc reaches from close to the top edge to close to the bottom. ^[2]

Six rainbow stripes charged with a raised fist on a black disc, the fist banded from pale to dark.

Usage & Adoption

Current Status

Reported in circulation, mostly online

The source states that the flag's "use has mostly been in the digital sphere, but it was flown at the 2019 San Francisco Pride". ^[1] That is one reported case of use, uncorroborated: no photograph, programme or contemporaneous report of it has been located.

Discourse & Debates

The source uses "queer people of color" and the acronym QPOC, and reports that the flag "is sometimes called the Resistance Flag". ^[1] The archive holds a separate qPoC/tPoC White Cishet Ally Flag, which is a different design for a different purpose.

Footnotes & Citations

Image Sources

• The rendering published with the source article. No image-maker is named. ^[1] · Credit: Not named · SexualDiversity.org · 900 × 553Rights Undetermined. The source names no image-maker and states no licence.